Annie,

Quite to the contrary, my investments have weathered the storms of the last 10 years rather well.

Investing is personal. People's risk tolerance and expectations may not align.

As metaphor, how many lubbers have gone to a boat show and asked for that 22 foot sailboat that sleeps 6 and can cross an ocean. And costs less than $5,000.

I was only cautioning him that there is no simple answer and even his question has some problems. 

I suggest he seek to educate himself carefully BEFORE he sits down with a "financial adviser". There are far too many charlatans out there just itching to take the money of the unsuspecting.

Well, Dennis, you have obviously had a very bad experience and I'm sorry to hear that.

For reasons that I won't bore people with, I ended up several years ago with cash, but no investments.  And falling interest rates.  In desperation, I consulted a UK financial adviser and, following his advice, had an acceptable income and increasing capital.  The crash of 2007 knocked me back, but I continued to draw down income on what became a fairly static amount of capital.

About four years ago, with volatile exchange rates and a firm decision to make my base in NZ, I shifted most of my capital across to NZ (while the dollar was at a record high against the pound!)  I went to another financial adviser, who works for an outfit here in NZ, which appeared to be very transparent.  They are sufficiently small that my adviser recognises who I am and remembers details of our conversations, but sufficiently large that they can, apparently, employ good people.  In spite of the wild fluctuations that can occur, in the intervening years, I have drawn a steady income and watched my capital grow. Had I put the money in term deposit, it would be a lot less, because the interest rates offered are not sufficient to give me the income I wanted.

Unfortunately, it does all depend on the investment company you are dealing with: some appear to be very straightforward (apparently the head of my company starts and ends every meeting by saying to the staff: "Remember - don't lose the bloody money!"), some appear to be complete charlatans.  I should talk to friends and acquaintance and see if anyone has long-term good experiences with a company, if possible.

It's all a gamble and there is always good and bad luck - just like being runover by a car.  But you can try and stack the odds in your favour by doing your homework carefully.

Hello again,

After a major life event I am thinking more about the future and building myself a financial safety net as I grow older. At the present, work on the dangerous mollusk has ground to a screeching halt. We are still living aboard but, my mobility has been severely limited from a car striking me and breaking my neck while I was walking the dog through a cross walk. I am young and healing well, and with luck will be back at my fantastic job in only a short stint. Since I am laid up, I am unable to procure extra funds with my usual methods of side work or street performance. I happen to have a knack more for building things then finance. Since I am currently not permitted to lift anything I have been having a lot of time to think about possible future investments, so if something like this happens to us again, I will at least have some pittance of an income and not be forced to slide by slowly consuming all reserve funds. 

I know quite a few of you voyagers are money savey, and I one day wish to perpetually travel on a small income as well. 

I am trying to find legitimate, safe, tried and true monthly yielding investments to start holing my extra dough into. If you have any leads of funds I should start researching please point me in the correct direction.